


Tsunami

by Whenever_the_Fancy_Takes_Me



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, angst angst and more angst, beginnings of romance if you squint, right in the feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-15
Updated: 2015-05-26
Packaged: 2018-03-30 15:30:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3942013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whenever_the_Fancy_Takes_Me/pseuds/Whenever_the_Fancy_Takes_Me
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Natsu never does anythings by halves and his return is just as sudden and destructive as when he left. Lucy is woefully unprepared for the emotions dredged up by her dragon slayer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is just a short little thing I whipped up on a whim. I'm not sure I'll take it anywhere, but if you like it, let me know. Enjoy!

* * *

 

“Lucy! That was amazing!” Jason was gushing, the stick straight lock of hair on top of his head twitching back and forth with the intensity of his exclamations. “The way you predicted the outcome down to the very time it would take the guilds to battle it out, so cool!”

                Lucy shrugged, studying the ruckus below with a vague distaste. It didn’t sit right with her that this year’s Grand Magic Games was won by a guild that hadn’t given it their all from the very beginning. Fairy Tail would’ve beaten them soundly just for that, it was a mockery to all the guilds that had tried their very hardest. Oh well, she gave a mental shrug, trying to dispel the gloom that always followed thoughts about her old guild and smiled at her boss. “Really it was easy,” she sneered back down at the celebration on the sand, “though they probably fixed the books in their favor. They won for _money_.”

                Her boss gave another excited shimmy, his hair swinging wildly, “I know what _that_ look means, Lucy Heartfilia, and I can’t wait to see your scathing review in Sorcerer’s Weekly. It’ll be absolutely, deliciously, scandalous!”

Lucy snorted, still looking apathetically into the arena, “As if I could write anything else for this farce?”

Just then, a wave of violent intent swept through the arena, freezing the very blood in her veins. There was an audible gasp that rose from every throat in the coliseum, and then profound silence descended over them all. It was a feeling that reminded Lucy of a mouse caught between a cat’s claws. It was imminent death that loomed above them all. A shiver of horror slid down her spine: there was a mage coming, a mage with power such as she only felt in her nightmares and a vision of Tartarus’s Devils lurked in the back of her mind. They couldn’t be back, could they?

Her keys were in her hands before she had time to think and she whipped around with a stiff grimace, preparing herself for a fight. She was going to protect these people if it was the last thing she did. “GET EVERYONE OUT OF THE STADIUM! GET TO SAFETY!” Her bellow rang out over the silent arena and then the stands exploded with activity as people rushed to leave.

Whoever this mage was, they meant business. The temperature in the arena was rising and panic swept through the audience, despite the guards swiftly ushering them from the stands. The mages still on the arena’s sandy floor puffed their chests and called their magic close. Lucy couldn’t help but pity them. Compared to this magic presence smothering her? They were nothing.

As if seconding her thought, the massive doors to the arena floor burst open with a violent crash. One door fell with an earthshaking boom, the other hung loosely from its hinges and Lucy gasped as the temperature in the arena skyrocketed to sweltering proportions. She clutched her keys and the bottle on her belt, preparing for the worst.

A black cloaked figure strode through the doors, bringing waves of power and unbelievable _heat_ into the arena with them, and with every step they took, the ground hissed beneath their feet, footprints of glass left in the sand in their wake.

Lucy gritted her teeth and flung herself over the railing with a shout, “Get back! Open! Gate of the Lion! Loke! Catch!”

The mages below her scattered with a startled yelp as a golden haired Celestial Spirit appeared amongst them. Loke caught the voluptuous mage who just jumped down almost six stories, and set her gently on her feet. Her cute skirt and shirt disappeared in a swirl of light, golden armor replacing it. “I told you to get back!” She barked at the mages behind her.

“Holy mother…” one of them whispered, pointing at her hand, “Fairy Tail…”

A rough, masculine voice boomed around them, “So you punks are the strongest guild in Fiore?”

Lucy’s heart clenched at the sound of the stranger’s voice, _it couldn’t be…_

The stranger laughed, a familiar, gut wrenching chuckle, “I’m here to fight you!”

“And I’m all fired up!”

“Aquarion!”

The familiar stranger lifted a fiery fist and slammed it into the arena floor and everything exploded as volcanic destruction melted the very stone of the enormous coliseum. Still, a wall of water had erupted around Lucy and the other mages, pouring in a tidal wave from the small bottle in her hand, evaporating in the face of the fire storm whipping around them.

Boiling hot steam billowed through the arena, but Lucy had diverted the worst of the destruction away from herself and the mages behind her. The stranger stood, dumbstruck before her, the wildly blowing wind ripping the hood back from his shaggy pink hair. Lucy bit her lip to keep from smiling at the blinking, dark green, almost black, eyes of her very best friend. Leave it to Natsu to make an entrance.

“Lucy?!” His mouth spread into a mega-watt grin that tugged an answering smile from her own reluctant lips. “Haha!” He laughed and darted forward to sweep her into an embrace, “What are you doing here?”

He spun, making her squeal, before he set her back on her feet. Lucy punched him in the shoulder, her gauntleted fist making him wince, “You idiot!” She shouted, “A year without a single word and the first thing you do is try to kill me!”

“Wh-what?” His eyes widened in shock, “I didn’t-!”

Lucy looked over her shoulder at the mages who were staring, open mouthed, at the monsters who were now casually arguing amidst the wreckage of the Grand Magic Games coliseum. “You guys should probably go,” she smiled, “you’re safe now.” They scrambled over each other in their haste to get away from the beastly mages. Each counting their lucky stars that they hadn’t been fried in the fire or drowned in the tsunami.

She then looked up at Loke, who had his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Natsu with rage. “You should go.” she whispered. He only looked at her with concern. Her lips twitched up into an uncertain smile, “I’ll be ok.” He nodded, shot Natsu one last murderous glare, and disappeared. Lucy’s clothes returned to normal.

Natsu laughed again, “So cool! You’ve gotten stronger Lucy! When did you become a water mage? Did Aquarius teach you that?”

The mention of Lucy’s beloved friend wiped the smile from her face, reminding her of everything she’d lost in the past year since their clash with the Devils. Natsu continued, oblivious to Lucy’s discomfort, “And was that a requip? Did Erza teach you that too? Man! What else have you learned?”

“Natsu!” Lucy stomped her foot, cracking the glass that Natsu had created with his firestorm and pointed behind him, “You have other things to worry about right now.”

He turned, long pink hair sweeping over his shoulders, to look behind himself at the soldiers marching through the arena’s broken doors. “Ah,” he turned back around with a grin, “I guess they’re here for me then.”

Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated, “You _think_?”

“Think you could look after Happy for a while?” At the mention of his name, the little blue Exceed clambered out of Natsu’s cloak.

“Luuuuuuuuucccccyyyy!” Happy launched himself at her and Lucy caught the dramatically sobbing cat in her arms. “I’ve missed you sooooo much! Natsu can’t cook worth a crap!”

He frowned, “Hey!”

“Halt!” The soldiers surrounded them with a noisy clatter, “By the authority of the King of Fiore, you are under arrest!”

Lucy gave Natsu a searching look, and shook her head, he had a lot of explaining to do. “We’ll catch up later.” She sniffed and stood straighter, haughtily striding away. The soldiers parted before her without question. They’d all seen the way she’d jumped into the arena and stopped the Salamander, there was no way they were going to try taking her in as well, especially not as mad as she looked.

“That’s a promise!” shouted the fire Dragon Slayer, “Hey Lucy!”

She turned to face him, quashing the warmth in her chest at the long awaited, toothy grin that beamed back at her. He smiled wider, “It’s good to see you!”

The soldiers closed around him, shutting him from view and Lucy sighed shakily. Her footsteps crunched across the glass and she gnawed her lip as she left the arena, Happy sitting contentedly on her head. With all of these emotions swirling inside of her, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to cry, scream, laugh, or hit Natsu upside the back of his stupid pink head with a chair. Maybe all of them. Whatever she was going to do, she looked up at the darkening sky, it was going to have to wait a little longer.

 

***

 

Natsu shifted uncertainly from foot to foot. The King had just acquitted him for the destruction of the arena, which he was honestly guilty about, and Lucy had come to get him from the castle, but now she was just staring at him with an unreadable, dark look in her eyes. She simply gestured for him to follow her and walked off without a word.

Natsu fidgeted as they continued to walk, neither of them speaking. This whole silence thing was really getting to him more than he’d like to admit. “So uh… thanks for coming to get me.” He scratched the back of his head nervously when her lips thinned.

She took a sharp breath as if to shout at him and he flinched instinctively (Lucy could be so scary!), but she just sighed and shook her head, “You don’t have anywhere to stay in Crocus do you.”

“Ahaha,” he shrugged his shoulders, “you know me! I’ve just been sleeping outside.”

Lucy rolled her eyes and the look on her face was so familiar that he almost had to remind himself to keep walking. The way she scrunched her nose when she was irritated, and how her eyebrows drew closer together in a dangerous expression, but the little smile at the edge of her lips that said she wasn’t actually angry, were things that he didn’t even realize he had missed as much as he did.

“Natsu!” Lucy sounded impatient.

“I’m sorry,” he smiled sheepishly, “I spaced out.”

She rolled her eyes again, ( _there’s that little scrunch!),_ “So I noticed. I said, why don’t you just crash with me?”

The thought of sleeping in Lucy’s apartment made him brighten considerably, she had the most comfortable bed, “Really? Great!”

She pointed down a nearby side street, “It’s over here, Princess Hisui helped me get a place pretty close to the castle so we could visit easily.”

He whistled appreciatively, “Wow, you must be taking some crazy requests if you’re paying rent on two places.”

“No Natsu,” she looked away, her expressive brown eyes strangely shuttered, “I’m only paying rent on one place.”

Natsu didn’t miss the warble of sadness in her voice, but he had no clue what could have caused it. Wasn’t she happy to see him? After a whole year apart, he sure as heck was happy to see her. Seeing her again was like getting back a piece of himself he wasn’t even aware he was missing, he felt like he was _whole_. He grinned, trying to cheer up his friend, “Hisui got you a free apartment? Awesome!”

Lucy sighed heavily, leading him to the steps of a quaint little brownstone apartment building, one with splashes of bright color in the planter boxes on each windowsill. “I’m on the second floor,” she murmured, opening the door, “It’s a nice enough place as far as apartments go.”

His eyes widened as the door opened to reveal a richly decorated hallway with plush, inviting carpeting, and gleaming wooden mouldings. _This is_ just _a nice enough place? Lucy, what kind of jobs are you_ taking _?!_ She led him up the stairs, oblivious to his gawping.

She stopped in front of a door the color of dark amber. “Here’s my place,” the lock turned with a click and the door swung open, “you can put your stuff over here in the living room. The couch is yours if you want it, I don’t have an extra bed.”

Natsu didn’t hear half of what she said, he was overwhelmed by the scent that enveloped him as he stepped through the door, peppermint, lavender, a nebulous whiff of ink from her papers, and just a hint of aged vanilla. It smelled like Lucy, and she smelled like home.

His fingers twitched, itching to grab the blonde, who was still chattering aimlessly, and pull her into another hug like the one he’d given her at the arena. A hug that he wouldn’t let her escape from this time. He grinned happily and let his gear drop to the floor, draping his dusty black cloak over the back of the light blue couch.

“Natsu!” Happy flew around the corner and dropped onto the couch cushions, his wings disappearing with a small pop, “Natsu you wouldn’t believe how much fish she has! It’s like she knew I was coming!”

A faint blush rose to her cheeks when he looked at her curiously. “Shut up you stupid cat,” she grumbled, “other people like fish too and it’s cheaper than beef.”

Resisting the urge to touch her, just to make sure she was real, became too much for him at this point, and Natsu threw an arm around her good-naturedly, “Aww that’s okay Luce, Happy was just wondering if Carla taught you to see the future. You’ve picked up everyone else’s tricks, why not that one?”

Lucy stiffened and moved away, cold replacing the warmth of her pressed against his side. “I didn’t “pick up” everyone else’s tricks, Natsu. I worked hard to get where I am.”

“So you spent the whole year training too!” Pride filled him, his Lucy really was smart, and going by what had happened at the arena, crazy strong too. Something caught his eye and he studied her curiously. The neckline of her shirt and pulled down, revealing a dark tattoo on her collarbone that he recognized immediately. “So how does Aquarius feel about the matching tattoos? Probably not to thrilled right?”

Lucy’s teeth clenched and he could hear them grinding. “If you don’t mind,” she bit out, her tone one of indescribable sadness, “I think I’m going to turn in for the night, it’s been a long day. Make yourself at home, but don’t,” she leveled a dark glare at him, making him take an involuntary step back, “don’t even _think_ of coming into my bedroom.”

Natsu was confused. Confused and hurt. Why was she treating him so coldly? They were partners, weren’t they? Best friends? So, why was she so distant, especially since he’d missed her _so_ damn _much_?

Her expression softened and she looked exhausted, more exhausted than he’d ever seen her. “Just go to bed Natsu,” she sighed, “we can talk in the morning.”

The pain in his gut didn’t fade as she turned her back on him and disappeared into another room. The snick of a lock sliding into place was like a blow to the chest. She’d locked him out of her room. Never, in all the time he’d known her, had she actually locked a door on him. Sure she’d complained about him breaking into her apartment, but she’d never actively _locked_ him out.

What had happened to his Lucy?

Happy crawled up onto his shoulder, his tail drooping dejectedly down his back. “Natsu?” His voice was small and very quiet, “I think Lucy is very sad.”

“Yeah buddy,” Natsu whispered back, “I think she is too.”

And whatever had made her that way was going to pay for hurting his friend so badly. That was a promise.

 

* * *

 

It was hard to cry when there was a Dragon Slayer in the next room. Quiet crying was really never her thing and Natsu was just so damn oblivious that the thought of telling him about the guild was killing her on the inside. He’d left the day before Master Makarov had disbanded Fairy Tail, so after living in the wilds for a year, of course he had no clue. It was going to destroy him.

All of that, coupled with the shock of seeing him for the first time since he… since he’d abandoned her… She traced the outline of the constellations on her ceiling with an outstretched hand, channeling her emotions into the languid movements of her fingers. Everything was just hitting her all at once with the force of a train.

And yet, her hand clenched, how dare he just come crashing back into her life without warning? He’d left her, without even the decency to say goodbye to her face, with just a letter saying “See you in a year. Take care of everyone?” No sir, mister, she didn’t think so! Fury poured through her, more potent than when he’d first left her with a crumpled letter and a broken heart. When he’d left and the guild disbanded, she’d had no one. Left by herself in the wreckage of Magnolia, in an apartment that had failed to escape the same destruction as the rest of the town, she’d been lost without a single clue of what to do next.

Nothing was right. Aquarius was gone, never to be seen again, her family was dead, her friends had scattered to the wind, and the only home she’d ever wanted was nothing more than a smoking pile of rubble and a tattoo on the back of her hand. But Natsu had the right to just come in and stomp all over the life she had so painfully reconstructed from less than _nothing_?

A muffled crash in the living room got her attention and she listened through her door as Natsu not-so-quietly whispered, “Hush Happy! Lucy isn’t awake yet! And don’t break anything, the _Princess_ gave this place to her.”

“But the sun rose _hours_ ago,” Happy grumbled, “and I want to see Lucy again!”

“I know!” The aggravated whine in the boy’s voice tugged an unbidden smile onto Lucy’s lips and she continued to listen quietly to the two friends.

There was a whoomph noise, reminiscent of someone throwing themselves down on the couch and Natsu spoke, sounding strained, “I missed her too buddy, but we’ve gotta be patient.”

“I don’t like patience.”

“Hey,” Natsu’s voice was chipper this time, “I know! Pretend we’re back at those waterfalls in the mountains! We had to be patient when we sat underneath them right?” His voice lowered till he sounded like a comical imitation of a dojo master, “Feel the power of the water. Become one with the water and you will reach enlightenment.”

“Naaaaatsuuuuu, you got bored after ten minutes and nearly evaporated the entire river!”

“Oh. Right. Hehe, maybe that’s not the best example…”

Lucy could picture him then, sitting on the floor with his legs crossed, a stupid grin on his stupid face, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly, like she’d seen him do a million times before, and she couldn’t fight the jumbled mess of her emotions any more. She bit her lip as the tears welled up and made burning paths from the corners of her eyes down into her hair where she laid on the pillow.

She felt the familiar tug in the pit of her stomach that heralded the arrival of a Celestial Spirit and then a gentle hand was smoothing the hair away from her face. Loke sat by her bed and reached for her hand.

“Lucy,” his voice was quiet, tender, “we can all feel your pain.”

“I’m so sorry,” she snuffled miserably, wiping her cheeks with the heel of the hand Loke wasn’t holding, “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to feel right now.”

The lion spirit sighed and gave her hand a comforting squeeze, “You don’t have to go out there right now. I know you didn’t sleep last night, so you should stay here and rest. Let me talk to him.”

Lucy looked up through watery eyes. Loke’s voice had become a growl and she managed a wobbly smirk, “J-just don’t hurt him too badly ok? As much as I hate him right now, I’d hate it more if he were dead, the idiot.”

He chuckled, squeezing her hand one more time before rising and turning towards the door. “Lucy,” he looked over his shoulder, intense yellow eyes boring into her plain brown ones, “no matter what happens, we will _never_ abandon you.”

“I know.” Lucy sniffed again, smiling, but her heart still clenched at the thought of Aquarius.

The door closed quietly behind him.

“Loke!” Natsu’s muffled voice was cheerful. “Haven’t seen you in a while, how are you?”

“I need you to come with me.” Loke’s voice was stiff, his speech short and clipped.

“What is it? What’s going on?” Concern replaced Natsu’s cheerful tone, “Is it Lucy? Is she ok?”

“Just come with me. Happy, you too.”

There was a shuffle of clothing and the thump of feet on hardwood as the two men left the apartment. Through her door, she couldn’t hear them open or shut the front door, but the gaping silence left behind assured her that they were indeed gone.

Lucy rolled over to face the window and fell unconscious, rather than suffer through another second of the empty silence, and even in her slumber, tears continued to roll down her cheeks.


	2. Whitewater

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natsu takes a stroll and Lucy fights her feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty peeps, you won. I'm kind of a pushover when it comes to writing, and you guys seemed to really enjoy my first chapter (though I hadn't really meant for this to go anywhere) so here is part two by popular demand!  
> Also, shout out to the awesome Lexysama, no joke, I kind of squeed when I read her comment on my work, if you want to know why I squeed, go read her work Trials by Nature. It totally rocks!

* * *

It went without saying that Natsu was confused. Not that Natsu was an overly dull person, in fact, he was quite intelligent, clever, and resourceful, but the everyday interactions between people were often things that made little to no sense to him. He was raised by a dragon. Dragons were creatures that tended to be straightforward and put no stock in the art of subtlety. Why pretend at finesse when you had the power to wipe whole towns of the map with a sneeze? Living in Fairy Tail had only helped his social skills marginally; no one could honestly say that any one of its members was a good example of “normal” society, so “normal” exchanges had to be found elsewhere.

The nuances of relationships, the balancing act between intentions and perspectives, were difficult to understand much less follow, but the fact that Loke hadn’t spoken to him in the last half-hour and would look over his shoulder every so often with eyes so icy Natsu expected his breath to puff in front of his face, had alerted him that maybe everything wasn’t quite right in the world. Natsu was confused.

He’d long since abandoned his attempts at communication; Loke simply ignored him and continued leading him further into the countryside. Still, this silence didn’t bug him nearly as much as the one between Lucy and himself the night before. Sure he’d missed Loke, the guy was one of his friends after all, but he wasn’t Lucy, and that was a pretty big deal in his book. There was Lucy and _then_ there was everybody else. Natsu was resigned to simply follow Loke and ignore the frosty silence building between them. Loke would get around to talking when he was good and ready to.

Happy had already gotten terribly bored with the whole thing and had flown away to search for a stream or pond to fish in. Natsu wanted to join him, but something about the brittle sound of Loke’s voice that morning had convinced him that, whatever this was, it was important, so he stayed.

In the absence of conversation, Natsu contented himself with observing their surroundings. In the year that he’d been training, he’d mostly lived in the roughest parts of Fiore. He’d traversed mountains crawling with monsters, sometimes having to carve out caves in the mountainside when blizzards erupted out of the blue and it was either “blast a hole in the mountain” or “freeze to death.” He’d trudged over burning sands, his exposed skin blistering in the unforgiving sun while he fought tooth and nail for every sip of water (and tried to avoid eating anything too poisonous, but that was another matter.) There had been jungles where everything that lived there was just food for something else, himself included, and he’d watched, horror-stricken, as a gigantic plant had snatched up a boar monster that he had planned on eating that night. He didn’t linger too long in the jungle. He drew the line at carnivorous plants.

The country side around Crocus wasn’t like any of the places he’d trained over the past year. There wasn’t anything trying to eat him here. If he sprawled out on one of the hills covered in multitudes of tiny flowers right now and fell asleep, he could do so without being afraid that something was going to come along and decide that he would make a nice snack (or a crazy old hermit would decide that his skin would make a nice rug, but that was also another matter.) It was peaceful, serene, even outright idyllic, and the lush, verdant green of the rolling sea of hills was soothing as nothing else could be. Only, he frowned slightly, disquieted despite his surroundings, it would be better if Lucy were here too.

She would love these wildflowers coating the hills in white, pale pink, and sunshiny yellow. They would make her smile. He was desperate to see her smile. Not the small, reluctant curls at the corners of her mouth that were more sad than happy, but the full blown ear-to-ear smiles that outshone the sun. Natsu sighed and looked over his shoulder at the city that rose out of the hills in the distance. Lucy was still there, he reminded himself, and anyway, this was a good a chance as any to find out what had upset her so much. Loke would know.

His frown deepened. He certainly hoped Loke would know. Natsu had been disturbed to hear the sound of sobbing coming from Lucy’s room that morning, and her cries had been so full of pain, muffled as they were, that Natsu would have done just about anything to make it stop. He wasn’t afraid of crying girls like some guys were, but for the first time he’d truly been at a loss as to what to do.

Lucy was a very sensitive person, it was one of the things that made her so special, but her tears had _always_ been for the sake of someone else. She’d cried for her father, the guild, her friends, clients, even himself on occasion, but the absolute, soul wrenching _misery_ he’d felt emanating from her room that morning was not because of someone else’s pain. It was because of hers.

Listening to Lucy being in so much pain was more than he could bear and there was nothing he could do about it, she’d locked him out after all. It had left him so confused and restless, that when Loke had emerged from her room and told him to follow, he did. He couldn’t listen to Lucy’s pain for another minute for fear that he would do something stupid, like break her door down. She probably wouldn’t have appreciated it, even if it did get her to stop crying.

His fists clenched and the anger that had simmered below the surface all morning came boiling out. “Loke,” his voice was dark, “who or what hurt Lucy?”

The Celestial Spirit stopped, but didn’t turn around and became so still he looked like a statue. Tension rolled off of him in waves.

“I know she’s in pain.” Natsu continued, “I heard her crying this morning. She’s acting strange too, so I want to know what’s happened since I left.” His eyes narrowed and his lip lifted in a fang-bearing, menacing smirk, devoid of humor, “And I’m going to make whatever bastard hurt Lucy regret they were ever born.”

Loke spun on his heel, startling Natsu with the abruptness of the motion. He ripped his blue sunglasses off to look Natsu straight in the eye. Natsu had to raise a hand to shield himself from the blazing light coming from Loke’s golden glare. “ _You_ ,” Loke hissed, “can go jump on a train and _never_ get off.”

“ _You_ ,” Loke stepped forward, forcing Natsu to lean back on his heels, “can go jump into the coldest, deepest lake in Fiore and swim until the fire inside you goes out.”

Natsu finally had to step back as the angry spirit confronted him, the blazing inferno of his gaze actually starting to sear the tender skin of the forearm he was using to shield his face. “ _You_ can leave and never return so long as you live, because _you_ ,” Loke’s voice was no more than a guttural growl, “you are the reason that Lucy is suffering.”

The bottom of Natsu’s stomach dropped out. “W-what?” His arm dropped and he blinked into the whirling depths of Loke’s rage. “How did I-”

“How did you do this to her?” Loke cut him off with a snort and put his sunglasses back on.

The sudden absence of the otherworldly blinding light left spots in Natsu’s eyes, but Loke’s scowl was no less burning without the brilliance of his celestial power.

Loke huffed in disgust and looked away. “You didn’t even say goodbye to her and you left her utterly alone for a _year_ and you have the _gall_ to ask how you hurt her?”

Natsu felt his own temper begin to rise, called out by Loke’s. “I did say goodbye!”

“You left her a _note_. That’s not saying goodbye. You left Lucy completely alone. You left her Natsu, even knowing how she felt about being alone.” Loke looked down his nose at him, making Natsu feel stupid and small, things that made Natsu even angrier.

He shifted from foot to foot, resentment over his treatment growing, “I _had_ to leave. Don’t you get it? I wasn’t strong enough. After all I’ve done, all we’ve been through, Tartarus nearly destroyed us all, and I. Wasn’t. Strong enough.”

Loke only stared at him with no expression, other than a challenging gleam in his eyes that dared him to continue, so he did.

“I needed to become stronger to protect the people I care about. I couldn’t save my father, but I’ll be damned if I can’t save everyone else. As for Lucy,” Natsu began to pace, not knowing what to do with his sudden excess energy that wouldn’t destroy the peaceful hillside, “I couldn’t tell her to her face. She’d want to come with me, you know she would, and it was going to be too dangerous. I didn’t want to worry about her and I knew the guild would take care of her while I was gone. They’d keep her safe. They’d make sure that she wasn’t alone.”

The unflappable look of disdain on Loke’s face made Natsu’s belief in his own decision falter, and it seemed more like he was trying to convince himself he’d done the right thing than anyone else. Loke’s ability to turn his own argument against him without saying a word was both confusing and angering. Now Natsu wanted to punch something, namely the lion spirit, but Loke’s expression shifted to one of reluctant pity and Natsu’s gut churned with dread. Whatever that face meant, it wasn’t good.

“You really don’t have any idea do you?”

“About what?” Natsu snapped.

Loke sighed, all of the anger and tension draining away, leaving him looking sad and tired. Loke rubbed one hand over his face, removing his glasses so he could pinch the bridge of his nose. Natsu waited impatiently for Loke to collect himself.

He sighed again. “Natsu, the guild disbanded the day after you left. Fairy Tail doesn’t even exist anymore.”

Natsu sat down on the grass, heedless of the dew that soaked through his trousers. Happy, who had returned and had been warily floating above the arguing friends, drifted down to land at Natsu’s side. The little Exceed looked up at Loke with wide eyes, “You don’t actually mean that, do you? Fairy Tail can’t possibly be gone! It’s… it’s _Fairy Tail_ …”

Loke nodded sadly, “Master Makarov disbanded the guild after we returned to Magnolia. He said that the age of Fairy Tail was over. A few people stayed to help put Magnolia back together, Erza being one of them, but after the town was cleaned up, everyone left.”

Natsu didn’t hear a word Loke had said. He was lost to a feeling of numbness so profound that he couldn’t even feel the beat of his own heart. _They left? Fairy Tail… my home… is gone? Oh god what have I_ done _?_ He lifted one shaking hand to his mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous. He wasn’t terribly concerned by the news that Gramps had disbanded the guild. There was a stubborn certainty in him that was sure that the guild wouldn’t stay broken up for long. Gramps was up to something, but Fairy Tail wasn’t over. What did tear him apart, was Lucy.

She’d been alone for a whole year. His Lucy had been unprotected and by herself with only her demons and her Celestial Spirits for company and he’d been traipsing through the wilderness eating _mushrooms_ , only thinking of her in hindsight. He’d missed her when the nights were cold and he longed for the warmth of her bed, when hunger gnawed at his belly and he pretended that whatever he’d burnt beyond recognition was one of the delicious meals she’d painstakingly cooked, and when he’d lay out under the stars and wished he could remember the constellations she’d shown him. Sometimes he was absurdly jealous of the thought that she was in Magnolia, comfortable, warm, and surrounded by friends, while he was out in the freezing rain training. The truth was a little harder to swallow.

There had been nights where Natsu had snuck into her room the usual way, through the window, to find her tossing and turning in her bed, tangled in her sheets and reeking of fear, stuck in a nightmare that made his own night terrors seem pale in comparison. They had both been through so much and Lucy was so strong, but Celestial Spirit mages were even more vulnerable in their sleep than any other mage. Lucy said it had something to do with a soul bridge that connected her to the spirit world and that her barriers were weaker in her sleep. It was too confusing for him to understand, but he knew that she would wake up screaming some nights and be too afraid to sleep too deeply for days afterwards.

He bit his lip drowning in guilt, and she had, had no one to help her chase away the darkness.

“I have to go back.” Natsu stood, clenching his fists with determination.

Loke paused mid-sentence, looking down at Natsu with surprise. “Did you hear nothing of what I just said?”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head, answering his own question, “No of course you didn’t. You’re Natsu.”

“I _said_ ,” Loke leaned forward, making sure he had the dragon slayer’s attention, “to wait here. Lucy just fell asleep an hour ago. Give her some time to rest before you barge back into her apartment like a bull. Why do you think I brought you so far out of the city? To give her space.”

Natsu looked away, color rising to his cheeks. He _had_ been planning on going back to her apartment. If a few doors got splintered along the way, he’d just chalk it up to collateral damage. The urge to comfort her was too strong to let something as trivial as physical boundaries get in the way.

Loke nodded, seeing that Natsu was properly contrite. “This year has been harder on her than you might imagine.” He said. He raised a hand to stop Natsu from replying and stared him down from behind his glasses. “I’m not talking about the loneliness or the nightmares, which I know you’re aware of, but that is her story to tell, not mine. Just know that you’re not the only one who’s lost something because of Tartarus. You’re not the only one who’s made sacrifices.”

Natsu hesitated, casting a frustrated look over the distance that now separated him from the suffering of his best friend. He still wanted to run back to Crocus as fast as he could, but he knew that pushing Lucy would only make her clam up and then he’d never know what had happened. Despite the impatient buzz in his head that wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw Lucy again, he was determined to give Lucy the space she needed. He may have left, but he was here now and he was _never_ going to rely on anyone else to take care of her again.

He cut his eyes back to Loke and allowed his dragon to peer out at the spirit as a warning. Loke’s lips thinned and his stance shifted as he recognized the superior predator lurking within the pink haired man. Natsu smirked at Loke’s reaction and looked away, corralling the baser part of his nature that screamed at him to make the male in front of him suffer for not properly taking care of his friend. “I’ll wait here Loke, but only for five hours. Any longer and I’m returning to the city.”

Loke nodded silently. He was wary of Natsu. This was not the same happy-go-lucky boy Loke had known for so many years, no, Natsu had changed. This was a powerful, dangerous mage who had grown into a man worthy of caution. This was a Dragon Slayer. Loke stepped back and gave Natsu one last searching stare, looking for something he wasn’t too entirely sure was there.

Natsu stared back openly, meeting Loke’s gaze. He didn’t have anything to hide. If Loke was wondering if Natsu truly wanted to make things right, he had only to look at his eyes. Natsu knew he made mistakes often, but this one had been massive and he felt like shit for it too. He’d hurt one of the people he cared the most about in the whole world, but he wasn’t going to waste his apology on Loke before he’d had the chance to apologize to Lucy.

Whatever Loke saw must’ve mollified him for the moment because his lips quirked up in a satisfied grin before he stepped back and disappeared in a flash of sparkling light.

Natsu released the breath he wasn’t aware he’d been holding and it whooshed from him, leaving him a little light headed. His shaking legs gave out and he flopped to the ground next to Happy, who put a comforting paw on his thigh. Natsu leaned back onto the hillside with a groan and slung an arm over his face.

“I screwed up big time buddy.” Natsu felt a tide of trepidation and anguish swamp him, and his lips trembled. “She’s never going to forgive me. Not for this.”

If Happy saw the hot and salty drop of liquid roll down Natsu’s cheek, he didn’t mention it.

* * *

 

Lucy paced nervously back and forth in front of her door. She had an hour left before Natsu came looking for her, but now that the time had come for her to finally talk to her best friend after a whole year apart, she had no idea what to say.

The sadness had worn off a while ago and right now she was angry. She was furious. No, she was violently livid and spoiling for a fight. This was good. She could handle angry, especially anger towards Natsu. Hell, half of their relationship had been her pissed off at him over _something_. She paused in her pacing and shook her head at herself. Who was she kidding? She didn’t know how to handle this burning, all-consuming rage, and comparing it to the minor irritations that inevitably came with being Natsu’s friend, was like comparing a lit match to an erupting volcano.

This anger actually scared her and that made the thought of finally _speaking_ to Natsu that much more terrifying. What on earthland was she going to say? _Oh hey Natsu, remember when Tartarus was killing everyone and trying to take away everyone’s magic? Well surprise! They_ did _kill you! I was the only one left since I managed to escape getting eaten by the Cube, but don’t worry, you weren’t dead for long. I just had to break the key of my oldest Spirit to summon the Celestial Spirit King. He brought you all back, I just had to sacrifice my own friend to do it. Now I’ll never see her again…_

Lucy slowed her pacing and stopped at her door. She leaned her head against it. What was she thinking? If learning that the guild was gone hadn’t broken him already, finding out that Aquarius was as good as dead to them would finish the job. She couldn’t do that to Natsu…

Wait, oh yes she could! He _left_ her goddamnit! He and the rest of those no good jerkwads who called themselves her friends and then just dumped her after everything she’d given up for them, the nightmares she’d suffered, all of the sleepless nights. Like hell she was just going to let him off the hook for _any_ of that!

She resumed pacing.

Loke appeared in her apartment with a faint _pop_. “You’re going to wear a hole in the carpet if you keep circling like that.”

Lucy snorted and crossed her arms, but she didn’t slow her furious steps. “What the hell else am I supposed to do? I can’t go out like this!” She gestured to herself. “I might kill him!”

Her partner and friend raised a brow. “You know,” he drawled, “the nap you had was supposed to help you settle your emotions, not make them worse.”

“Yeah,” she snapped, “I know. I can’t even take a nap correctly. So sue me.”

Lucy forced herself to halt and took a deep breath in through her nose. Ok, she could do this. All she had to do was just calm down and focus on the events of the last year as just that, events. Like they were just chapters in a story that wasn’t even hers. If she could just repeat them like she was telling a story it would be easier to pull her own emotions out of it. They were more muddled now than they had been when Natsu blew up the arena last night.

She just needed some focus. Lucy breathed deeply again, a serene smile gracing her face. That’s it, she was peace. She was the very soul of harmony. Thoughts of a certain pink haired dragon slayer didn’t make her hands ball up into tight fists. She was Zen…

Yeah… Natsu was so going to get beaten.

“Decided on a course of action?” Loke chuckled merrily, envisioning the hell that was about to rain down on the dragon slayer. “You only have thirty minutes to make your move.”

“Oh I’m going to make a move alright.” Lucy wrenched open her door and stormed through, slamming it behind her.

She didn’t look back at Loke, trusting that he could find his own damn way out of the apartment. A little part of herself stared at the rest of her with horror, she was being so horribly _mean_! She ruthlessly quashed the tiny little voice that begged mercy for Natsu. It wasn’t going to happen. He was her best friend, but damn if he wasn’t going to get a piece of her mind.

Lucy stomped out of the apartment building and out onto the street, pulling one of her new keys from her belt in the process. Waving it in a sharp pattern through the air, she shouted, “Open! Lepus, Gate of the Hare!”

A waifish looking girl appeared in front of her with a burst of light. The girl was lean, dressed in grungy, punk-rock styled clothes, her short amethyst hair sticking out from her head in carefully styled disarray. Metal studs glinted from her ears, matching the one in her nose and the rings on her lip and eyebrow. She crossed her arms looking bored as she blew bubbles in her chewing gum. She popped her gum loudly. “So,” the girl looked down at the chipped black paint on her nails, “Hottie McHotterston is about to get his ass handed to him huh?”

Lucy sighed, “Yes, Zaya, I’m about to go rip Natsu a new one. And I’ve told you before, don’t call him that. You’ve never even met him, so how would you know if he’s hot or not?”

“With the way you mope after him, he has to be the most attractive man on the planet. I know my girl has taste.” Lucy scowled and Zaya snorted at her and plucked at the hem of her Metallica shirt, black cherry lips curling into a rebellious grin, “Just because you’re in denial doesn’t mean I can’t admire me a nice piece of ass.”

“Just lend me your speed.” Lucy prayed for just a little more patience. The Rabbit Spirit was always a handful, but she was very useful.

“Fine!” Zaya threw her hands in the air and Lucy’s attire changed, her jeans, boots, and t-shirt, becoming racing sneakers, running shorts, and a tank top. All black with red stripes down the sides.

Zaya pointed a finger at her with a dangerous gleam in her eye. “Whatever you do, don’t damage his face. He won’t be so pretty to look at if you do and I don’t think I could live with that.”

“Goodbye Zaya.” Lucy glowered at the unrepentant spirit, who popped her gum one last time before disappearing.

Now for the fun part. Lucy leaned down until her fingers touched the cobblestones, taking a stance like runners do before a race and mentally counted down. _One… Two… Three. Go!_ She launched herself forward, pushing off with so much power that a cobblestone cracked beneath her heel.

Zaya had the ability to give Lucy the speed and uncanny agility of the hare and it was exhilarating. It also made her weird obsession with Natsu somewhat tolerable. Lucy zipped past the people of Crocus, most of whom would only register her passing as an oddly strong breeze, and sped to the outskirts of the enormous city. She paid little attention to her surroundings, they were just a blur anyway, and focused instead on running off at least a little of this pent-up energy screaming for release. Maybe by the time she actually reached Natsu, she wouldn't feel so much like shoving his own flames down his throat.

A trek that would normally have taken her the better part of an hour to complete, lasted no more than five minutes thanks to her Celestial Spirit induced speed, but despite the energy she’d expended in her lightning fast run, Lucy was no less irritated and restless than she had been when she woke up. Seeing Natsu sitting beneath a tree waiting for her, only made her more restless.

Natsu’s pink head snapped up as he sensed her approach and she skidded to a stop in front of him, her sneakers kicking up clods of dirt where she'd dug in her heels. The surprise on his face was short lived, however and he looked away, refusing to meet her eyes.

It was Lucy’s turn to be surprised. She’d never seen Natsu look so utterly defeated before. His shoulders were slumped and his face was tense, like he was expecting a beating. _Well, he’s going to get one, but that’s not normally something he’d be so bummed about_. The Natsu she knew was always raring for a fight. She needed that Natsu right now. This one looked like he’d just lost something more important to him than his own life and that disturbed her. The news about the Guild must’ve hit him really hard.

She bit her lip, torn between hashing out her frustrations and comforting the friend she hadn’t seen in a year. Zaya chose that moment to pop up and decide for her.

“Oooh Lucy!” The toned rocker girl was leaning forward with her hands on her knees to get a better look at Natsu. “You never told me that Hottie McHotterston was _this_ smokin’! Fire Dragon Slayer indeed!”

That got a rise out of her and her settling temper flared up again. Lucy scowled and her Celestial power faded, her clothes returning to normal. “Zaya, go home.” She glared at the red-and-black miniskirt clad girl.

Zaya pouted, “Aww! You’re not even going to introduce us?! He could be my _soul_ mate!”

Natsu looked up at her incredulously, glancing back and forth between Zaya and Lucy with concern. “Lucy, is she a new spirit?” He asked.

Zaya popped her gum with a wink, “You bet your toasty buns I am Dragon Boy. Zaya of the Gate of the Hare at your service.”

“Um, Natsu,” he stood awkwardly, still looking between Lucy’s angry glare and the over the top flirtatious winks being fluttered his way by the rabbit spirit, “but I guess you already knew that huh?”

“Oh my.” Zaya looked up at Natsu, who towered over the small spirit. She grinned toothily. “Mamma likes ‘em tall and, sweet heavens, she likes ‘em _built_.”

“Enough, Zaya!” Lucy snapped, “Don’t make me force your gate closed.”

Zaya stuck her studded tongue out at her master. “Fine, spoil sport, I’m leaving.” She turned to walk away, but threw a lascivious wink over her shoulder, “But this is one bunny who would not mind being captured by that apex predator. Damn!”

With that parting shot, Zaya vanished, leaving Lucy to juggle the horribly awkward silence she left behind. She shrugged, gesturing to where Zaya had _poofed_ out of existence. “Sorry about that. Zaya… well Zaya’s a bit different.”

“Yeah… No, I mean, it’s ok.” Natsu shifted back and forth, looking everywhere but at her.

She puffed out her cheeks and put her hands on her hips, looking away as well. _This is so weird…_ Chalk it up to Zaya to ruin a perfectly good ass-whooping. Lucy had come up here, full of self-righteous, justified fury, with every intent of letting Natsu know exactly how she’d felt this past year, and Zaya just had to ruin the whole thing. Rabbits, lecherous little creatures.

“Natsu, fight me.”  “Lucy, I’m so sorry.”

They spoke at the same time, which flustered them both. Lucy’s cheeks reddened and Natsu gave a little shrug. He waved a hand in her direction. “Y-you should go first.”

She nodded and took a deep breath, hardening her resolve. “Fight me.” Damn she hoped her voice was steady.

“What?” Natsu’s eyes widened in shock. “You want me to do what?”

“You heard me.” Lucy stepped forward into his space, glaring up at him. “I want you to fight me.”

He shook his head incredulously. “Lucy, I’m not going to fight you. I just want to talk.”

“Ha, this is weird,” Lucy smirked, “usually I’m the one who wants to talk and you’re the one who wants to pummel something senseless.” Her smile dropped from her face, “Well I’m not going to talk until you fight me.”

He frowned and his face creased in adorable confusion, making her heart squeeze almost painfully. No matter how angry she was with him, there was no denying the fact that she had missed him bitterly. She’d missed everything about him, his smile, his infectious laugh, his messy pink hair, the warmth of his hugs, his social awkwardness, and even some of his annoying habits like his snoring, his complete lack of personal space, and his monstrous appetite that had often left her apartment barren of all foodstuffs. She’d missed Natsu. He had always been there for her… until he wasn’t, and that had been the most painful thing to accept about his yearlong disappearance, that he hadn’t even talked to her before leaving her behind.

“Lucy, I just want to say I’m-”

“No.” Lucy’s eyes narrowed as she cut him off. A year ago, he hadn’t said a word to her. He wasn’t going to get to have his heartfelt conversation _now_. “I told you. I’m not talking until after you fight me, and I honestly don’t want to hear anything you have to say to me right now anyway.”

Lucy looked down at Happy, who was clinging fearfully to Natsu’s leg. She smiled softly at him, getting a timid smile in return. “Would you do me a favor Happy?” The Exceed nodded quickly and Lucy leaned down to pick him up.

Happy curled into her arms Like he’d never left, and buried his head in her shoulder. Lucy patted his back, completely ignoring Natsu. “Would you referee the fight between Natsu and I?”

Happy looked back and forth between the two mages. On one paw, Natsu was his adopted father, having raised him from the time he’d hatched from his egg, but on the other paw, Lucy was scary. He loved her and secretly hoped that one day she and Natsu would be more than just friends, but Lucy was still scary. He figured it was safer to side with Lucy. “Okay, I’ll do it for you Lucy.”

“Good.” Lucy set the little blue cat down and he scurried off.

“Now,” Lucy cracked her neck, “this is just going to be you and me. I’m not going to call my Spirits.” She settled into a ready stance and raised her fists, “So come on Dragon Slayer, show me what you’ve got.”

Natsu winced uncomfortably, “Lucy I don’t wanna-

Lucy hauled off and sacked him in the jaw with her right fist. He stumbled backwards, arms wheeling, from the force of her blow. “Put up or shut up dragon breath.”

The pink haired man straightened and rubbed his jaw, but he still wouldn’t look her in the eyes. He stared determinedly down at his feet. Lucy whirled in for another hit, this time to his stomach. He didn’t even try to block the body shot, taking it with a grunt.

“Fight me!” Lucy shouted.

Natsu shook his head silently.

She punched him in the jaw again, snapping his head back and bloodying his lip. “Fight me damnit!”

He refused again and instead readied himself for another blow, his jaw clenching.

Lucy spun on one leg, slamming her other into his side. Natsu gasped as she knocked him off balance, her kick bruising, if not fracturing, a few of his ribs. Lucy righted herself and glared at him. Time to hit him where she really knew it was going to hurt.

“I will _never_ forgive you. Unless you fight me.”

Natsu froze, looking up at her with eyes that had narrowed into slits. She’d waved the forgiveness card in his face and he’d reacted just like she knew he would. A heat haze began to rise from his shoulders as he called his power forth. Lucy grinned, bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation.

He looked up, finally meeting her eyes for the first time, and was surprised to see excitement there. No anger, no sadness, no indignation, or condemnation, just excitement.

Lucy smiled wider, “Now I’m all fried up!”

She threw another punch, which he blocked this time, and then the fight started in earnest. They danced back and forth, trading blows with expert precision, neither gaining the upper hand. Lucy felt a thrill go through her at the shock on Natsu’s face. He hadn’t been the only one training to become stronger, and it showed. Lucy pressed forward, fists, and elbows, and knees flying. Natsu matched her move for move, not really pressing back, which was fine with her. At least he was finally fighting.

She dodged a fist that would have struck her middle by somersaulting backwards out of reach and Natsu darted in to sweep a leg beneath her feet as she landed, upsetting her balance. She tumbled to the ground and Natsu pounced, slamming a fire covered fist into the ground where she had been only moments before.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.” Lucy clucked her tongue at him, the beat of her heart thumping loudly in her ears, “If you get to use your powers, so do I.”

Lucy unscrewed the cap of the bottle at her hip and clapped her hands together. “Whip of the Seven Seas!” She shouted and pulled her hands apart. Water filled the space between her palms, forming a dark blue handle which she grabbed out of the air with a flourish. With the flick of a wrist, water poured from the grip in her hand, snapping in midair as she spun the watery whip over her head.

Natsu grinned and called his fire into his hand. Lucy flicked her whip, lashing it against his palm, not enough to hurt him, but enough to extinguish the fire in his hand. He stared down at the wet appendage, flabbergasted. Not even Juvia had managed to fully extinguish his fire, but Lucy had done it with a single blow.

Lucy crowed in victory, “Yes! It works!”

She flicked her whip at Natsu again and he ducked, shooting a blast of fire at her which she blocked easily. The flames hissed where they met the flowing water of her weapon. Natsu scrambled to his feet, taking an enormous breath as he did so.

“Roar of the fire dragon!”

“Aquarion!”

Just as in the arena, an inferno barreled down on her, only to be stopped by an enormous wall of swirling, torrential waves of water. Lucy poured even more power into her defense, turning it into an attack as the last of Natsu’s flame sizzled out against the flow. The water flooded across the hillside, sweeping away everything in its path, including Natsu, with a thunderous roar. Lucy lifted her hands, her arms shaking beneath the weight of the power she was wielding, and the water level rose until she was directing a raging river through Crocus’ quiet contryside.

Natsu floundered along in the water until Lucy couldn’t keep up the power rushing through her tired limbs. She made the water flow back to her and then let him fall, spluttering, into a muddy puddle at her feet. She grinned down at him sprawled out on his back, pink hair drenched and plastered to his face, covered in mud, staring up at her with wide green eyes. He began to snigger.

His sniggering turned into chuckles, which then became full out laughs, until he was guffawing, clutching his stomach as deep belly laughs pulled tears from his eyes. Of course Lucy couldn’t help but join in; collapsing to the ground next to him, and the laughter was cathartic. Not all of the tears pouring down her cheeks were from merriment, but laughing felt so much better than sobbing, and laughing with Natsu was doing so much more for her wounded heart than anything else had since the guild had disbanded.

Natsu sat up, still laughing, and ran a hand through his sopping wet locks. “You know, if you thought I needed a bath that badly, you could’ve just told me.”

“Uh-uh,” Lucy shook her head with a giggle, “it was easier this way. Now your clothes have been washed too.”

They both continued to chuckle for a while, but Natsu looked at her with a new respect in his eyes. Seeing that look of approval filled her with satisfaction. She knew he’d always respected her and her strength, but it was a different thing entirely to see that he now viewed her as more of an equal and less of a burden.

Lucy looked away, a smile still tugging the corner of her lips, though it was more tempered now. She’d realized a long time ago that Natsu hadn’t said goodbye face to face because she would have insisted he take her with him. She knew she would’ve, and he hadn’t given her that opportunity because he also knew she was too weak to keep up with him. Lucy called a bit of water from the soaked earth and watched the clear stream as it weaved in and out between her fingers. Thanks to Aquarius, now she’d always be strong enough to follow him.

“Lucy…”

Natsu’s quiet voice pulled her from her reverie and the water in her hand lost its form and splashed back to the ground. He stood and offered his hand to her. “If it’s not too much to ask, I’d really like to have that talk now.”

Lucy sighed, there really was no point in putting it off any longer and now that she’d worn herself out, it was less likely that she’d have some sort of nervous breakdown. She took his hand and let him pull her up.

“Alright.” She dusted herself off, remaining miraculously dry whereas he was still soaked to the bone. “But if I’m taking you out anywhere, you’re going to have to dry off first.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ha! Yeah, that's right, I'm making you wait for their big heart to heart because I'm evil. Muahahaha! Actually I'm still figuring that part out myself *shrugs* will they come to terms with the squinty sort of blossoming romance or will they continue to lean on the "best friends" crutch. Will Zaya have her lusty day in the sun with her dragon slayer eye candy or will Lucy beat her to the punch? The world may never know!


End file.
